Atishi, Delhi’s water minister, has been hospitalized after five days of a hunger strike aimed at highlighting the city’s acute water shortage exacerbated by a prolonged heatwave.
Atishi’s hospitalization on Tuesday morning was prompted by dangerously low sugar levels, dropping to 36mg/dL, well below the normal range of 70-100mg/dL.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, known by her first name, accused neighbouring Haryana state of curbing water supply to Delhi. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana refuted these claims, attributing the crisis to alleged mismanagement by the AAP government.
“She has not eaten anything for the last five days,” tweeted AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, noting her admission to the ICU.
Delhi is in the grips of an intense summer, with temperatures consistently exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, driving up demand for both water and electricity and straining the city’s resources. As a result, residents have increasingly relied on water supplied by tankers.
Atishi pointed fingers at Haryana for withholding a significant portion of water from the Yamuna River, which supplies Delhi and other northern states. Despite a 1996 Supreme Court order mandating Haryana to provide Delhi with a continuous water supply, Atishi claimed that recent reductions in water supply had left 2.8 million people without adequate water for three weeks.
In response, the Haryana government cited mismanagement by Delhi authorities as the root cause of the water crisis.
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